C&W: Poland leads the region in real estate investment activity

According to Cushman & Wakefield, robust commercial real estate investment activity in the core Central European markets of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania continued in the second quarter of 2016 and reached €2.6 billion, a 56 percent increase on Q1. This has pushed volumes over the last twelve months to €9.3 billion, close to 2007 record levels. Poland is still the primary destination for international capital with over €1.5 billion of investment in Q2, reflecting 59 percent of investment in the CE region. Over the last twelve months €5.4 billion has been invested in Poland, close to the record €5.6 billion in the twelve months ending in Q2 2007. The Czech Republic was the next most active market with €0.5 billion of investment in Q2, taking volumes over the past year to €1.5 billion. This is below the record volumes set in 2007 and 2015 of over €2 billion. Foreign buyers continue to dominate, and have accounted for over 80 percent of capital invested in the last twelve months. Close to two thirds of this capital has emerged from three sources – the US (27 percent), Germany (19 percent) and South Africa (18 percent). In the last quarter alone over €1 billion was invested from South African investors, as a number of listed South African vehicles target CE markets and predominantly focused on Poland.